It was only a cup of water, but it was 3:48am, and it ended up all over Mary Ann, and the bed and the floor between our beds. The bed spread, bottom sheet and mattress pad were soaked in places. Everything needed a clean and dry replacement.

Those who are in the Caregiving Spouses of those with some form of Lewy Body Disease Yahoo Group would recognize this to be tiny on the scale of messes they have to deal with routinely. It is just that it was one of those nights with rampant hallucinations, lots of times in need of my help throughout the night. I had asked again and again for her just to stay in bed, since otherwise there would be no hope of sleep. She decided to get up and get the water for herself from the bed stand.

I won’t deny feeling pretty annoyed, but I got things changed and put her back in bed. There were additional needs increasing as we got closer to morning. She was up early, in need of food and pills. Needless to say, it is midday; she is napping; and I am, as usual, wide awake and sitting here at the computer (after having fed the birds, of course).

Before the troublesome night, I had thought today might be the day we could take in a movie. It is almost 3pm and Mary Ann is still sleeping. I asked her about the possibility of getting up when I gave her the last round of pills. I hung around for a while talking with her about getting up, but she wasn’t ready to do so. I am grateful to have most of last evening’s PT’s coffee refill left this morning, so I am avoiding the ugly caffeine withdrawal headache.

She finally got up around 4pm, ate lunch and began watching some television. The hallucinations continue. I had hoped that she would sleep them off with the long nap. Just moments ago she fell in the bedroom but did not hurt herself. As I was getting her up, I could see in her eyes that she was seeing someone. She whispered that there is a man in the living room. She insisted that I hide the coin jar on her dresser. When I got her back into bed, she asked me to tell him to go to bed. This morning, at one point she told me that there was someone in his bed, correcting herself quickly that is was my bde the person was in. I wondered if it was another fleeting moment of the Capgras Delusion, thinking that I was a substitute. By the way, that delusion was the basis for the Body Snatcher movies.

I just saw on the monitor that she was getting up. I rushed in and she said she had something to tell Pete. I told her that I am Pete. I asked her if sometimes she thought I was an imposter. She didn’t answer that clearly. Then she talked about the people again. She said, “Now they are eating here.” She told me that the children were standing at the rail around the opening to the stairs to the basement. That spot was about ten or twelve feet from the bed where we were standing. She said the dad was in the kitchen making food. I asked if there was a Mom, a wife. She said that of course there was. She did not say whether or not at that moment she could see her. It is no wonder she has a hard time sleeping with all those people around.

Volunteer Patrice came over for a couple of hours this evening giving me a chance to run a couple of errands and begin a much needed clean up of my office.

It seems likely that we are in for another night with lots of interruptions. I am now thinking about going over to the Hospice House Administrative office to check on the option of Mary Ann staying a night there. They have an Adult daycare program in one building and offer rooms in the Hospice House for occasional night time care (having nothing to do with the Hospice program itself) at a reasonable (I think) cost. If there are too many sleepless nights in a row, I will need to have an option for getting some sleep. I will take Mary Ann along so that she can see what the rooms are like. It is a beautiful place in a lovely setting. As pleasant as the setting is, it may not be a workable option. If she is not comfortable with the situation, I will not be able to sleep at home knowing she is distressed. That would then defeat the purpose.

For now I am just hoping for a decent night’s sleep some time soon.

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